Dmtc window reservation signal in nr shared spectrum

ABSTRACT

A discovery measurement timing configuration (DMTC) window reservation signal is disclosed for new radio (NR) shared spectrum (NR-SS) networks. The DMTC window is defined providing a reserved location for transmission of essential control signaling and potentially high priority traffic that may be transmitted in a prioritized manner. Access within the DMTC window may be provided with a clear channel assessment (CCA) exempt transmission (CET) option or a non-CET option. When the CET option is used, the reservation duration and period may be conveyed through the channel reservation signal. User equipments (UEs) that detect the reservation signal may re-transmit with added offset to inform neighboring base station that may not be within range of the serving base station. Base station that receive either the transmitted or re-transmitted reservation signal will refrain from communications that may interfere with the reception at the UEs.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a divisional and claims the benefit of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/045,414, entitled, “DMTC WINDOW RESERVATION SIGNAL IN NR SHARED SPECTRUM,” filed Jul. 25, 2018, and also the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/538,166, entitled, “DMTC WINDOW RESERVATION SIGNAL IN NR SHARED SPECTRUM,” filed on Jul, 28, 2017, which is expressly incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

BACKGROUND Field

Aspects of the present disclosure relate generally to wireless communication systems, and more particularly, to discovery measurement timing configuration (DMTC) window reservation signal in new radio (NR) shared spectrum networks.

Background

Wireless communication networks are widely deployed to provide various communication services such as voice, video, packet data, messaging, broadcast, and the like. These wireless networks may be multiple-access networks capable of supporting multiple users by sharing the available network resources. Such networks, which are usually multiple access networks, support communications for multiple users by sharing the available network resources. One example of such a network is the Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (UTRAN). The UTRAN is the radio access network (RAN) defined as a part of the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), a third generation (3G) mobile phone technology supported by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). Examples of multiple-access network formats include Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) networks, Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) networks, Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA) networks, Orthogonal FDMA (OFDMA) networks, and Single-Carrier FDMA (SC-FDMA) networks.

A wireless communication network may include a number of base stations or node Bs that can support communication for a number of user equipments (UEs). A UE may communicate with a base station via downlink and uplink. The downlink (or forward link) refers to the communication link from the base station to the UE, and the uplink (or reverse link) refers to the communication link from the UE to the base station.

A base station may transmit data and control information on the downlink to a

UE and/or may receive data and control information on the uplink from the UE. On the downlink, a transmission from the base station may encounter interference due to transmissions from neighbor base stations or from other wireless radio frequency (RF) transmitters. On the uplink, a transmission from the UE may encounter interference from uplink transmissions of other UEs communicating with the neighbor base stations or from other wireless RF transmitters. This interference may degrade performance on both the downlink and uplink.

As the demand for mobile broadband access continues to increase, the possibilities of interference and congested networks grows with more UEs accessing the long-range wireless communication networks and more short-range wireless systems being deployed in communities. Research and development continue to advance wireless technologies not only to meet the growing demand for mobile broadband access, but to advance and enhance the user experience with mobile communications.

SUMMARY

In one aspect of the disclosure, a method of wireless communication includes receiving, by a UE, a semi-persistent reservation signal from a serving base station during a discovery measurement timing configuration (DMTC) window, wherein the semi-persistent reservation signal identifies reservation of a shared communication channel, re-transmitting, by the UE, the semi-persistent reservation signal in response to the receiving, wherein the re-transmitting the semi-persistent reservation signal includes adding an offset period to the re-transmitted semi-persistent reservation signal, and engaging in communication with the serving base station by the UE within a clear channel assessment (CCA)-exempt transmission (CET) period of the shared communication channel identified by the semi-persistent reservation signal after the DMTC window.

In an additional aspect of the disclosure, a method of wireless communication includes reserving, by a base station, a transmission period on a shared communication channel within a DMTC window, transmitting, by the base station, control signals during the DMTC window after the reserving, and communicating, by the base station, with one or more served UEs after the DMTC window.

In an additional aspect of the disclosure, a method of wireless communications includes communicating, by a base station, with one or more served UEs using a shared communication channel, detecting, by the base station, a semi-persistent channel reservation signal on the shared communication channel during a gap in the communicating, and refraining from resuming communication using the shared communication channel for a predetermined time after the detecting.

In an additional aspect of the disclosure, an apparatus configured for wireless communications includes means for receiving, by a UE, a semi-persistent reservation signal from a serving base station during a DMTC window, wherein the semi-persistent reservation signal identifies reservation of a shared communication channel, means for re-transmitting, by the UE, the semi-persistent reservation signal in response to the means for receiving, wherein the means for re-transmitting the semi-persistent reservation signal includes means for adding an offset period to the re-transmitted semi-persistent reservation signal, and means for engaging in communication with the serving base station by the UE within a CET period of the shared communication channel identified by the semi-persistent reservation signal after the DMTC window.

In an additional aspect of the disclosure, an apparatus configured for wireless communications includes means for reserving, by a base station, a transmission period on a shared communication channel within a DMTC window, means for transmitting, by the base station, control signals during the DMTC window after the means for reserving, and means for communicating, by the base station, with one or more served UEs after the DMTC window.

In an additional aspect of the disclosure, an apparatus configured for wireless communications includes means for communicating, by a base station, with one or more served UEs using a shared communication channel, means for detecting, by the base station, a semi-persistent channel reservation signal on the shared communication channel during a gap in the communicating, and means for refraining from resuming communication using the shared communication channel for a predetermined time after execution of the means for detecting.

In an additional aspect of the disclosure, a non-transitory computer-readable medium having program code recorded thereon. The program code further includes code to receive, by a UE, a semi-persistent reservation signal from a serving base station during a DMTC window, wherein the semi-persistent reservation signal identifies reservation of a shared communication channel, code to re-transmit, by the UE, the semi-persistent reservation signal in response to execution of the code to receive, wherein the code to re-transmit the semi-persistent reservation signal includes code to add an offset period to the re-transmitted semi-persistent reservation signal, and code to engage in communication with the serving base station by the UE within a CET period of the shared communication channel identified by the semi-persistent reservation signal after the DMTC window.

In an additional aspect of the disclosure, a non-transitory computer-readable medium having program code recorded thereon. The program code further includes code to reserve, by a base station, a transmission period on a shared communication channel within a DMTC window, code to transmit, by the base station, control signals during the DMTC window after execution of the code to reserve, and code to communicate, by the base station, with one or more served UEs after the DMTC window.

In an additional aspect of the disclosure, a non-transitory computer-readable medium having program code recorded thereon. The program code further includes code to communicate, by a base station, with one or more served UEs using a shared communication channel, code to detect, by the base station, a semi-persistent channel reservation signal on the shared communication channel during a gap in the communicating, and code to refrain from resuming the communicating using the shared communication channel for a predetermined time after execution of the code to detect.

In an additional aspect of the disclosure, an apparatus configured for wireless communication is disclosed. The apparatus includes at least one processor, and a memory coupled to the processor. The processor is configured to receive, by a UE, a semi-persistent reservation signal from a serving base station during a DMTC window, wherein the semi-persistent reservation signal identifies reservation of a shared communication channel, to re-transmit, by the UE, the semi-persistent reservation signal in response to execution of the configuration to receive, wherein the configuration of the at least one processor to re-transmit the semi-persistent reservation signal includes configuration to add an offset period to the re-transmitted semi-persistent reservation signal, and to engage in communication with the serving base station by the UE within a CET period of the shared communication channel identified by the semi-persistent reservation signal after the DMTC window.

In an additional aspect of the disclosure, an apparatus configured for wireless communication is disclosed. The apparatus includes at least one processor, and a memory coupled to the processor. The processor is configured to reserve, by a base station, a transmission period on a shared communication channel within a DMTC window, to transmit, by the base station, control signals during the DMTC window after execution of the configuration to reserve, and to communicate, by the base station, with one or more served UEs after the DMTC window.

In an additional aspect of the disclosure, an apparatus configured for wireless communication is disclosed. The apparatus includes at least one processor, and a memory coupled to the processor. The processor is configured to communicate, by a base station, with one or more served UEs using a shared communication channel, to detect, by the base station, a semi-persistent channel reservation signal on the shared communication channel during a gap in the communicating, and to refrain from resuming communication using the shared communication channel for a predetermined time after execution of the configuration to detect.

The foregoing has outlined rather broadly the features and technical advantages of examples according to the disclosure in order that the detailed description that follows may be better understood. Additional features and advantages will be described hereinafter. The conception and specific examples disclosed may be readily utilized as a basis for modifying or designing other structures for carrying out the same purposes of the present disclosure. Such equivalent constructions do not depart from the scope of the appended claims. Characteristics of the concepts disclosed herein, both their organization and method of operation, together with associated advantages will be better understood from the following description when considered in connection with the accompanying figures. Each of the figures is provided for the purpose of illustration and description, and not as a definition of the limits of the claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A further understanding of the nature and advantages of the present disclosure may be realized by reference to the following drawings. In the appended figures, similar components or features may have the same reference label. Further, various components of the same type may be distinguished by following the reference label by a dash and a second label that distinguishes among the similar components. If just the first reference label is used in the specification, the description is applicable to any one of the similar components having the same first reference label irrespective of the second reference label.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating details of a wireless communication system.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a design of a base station and a UE configured according to one aspect of the present disclosure.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a wireless communication system including base stations that use directional wireless beams.

FIGS. 4A and 4B are block diagrams illustrating example blocks executed to implement aspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating base stations and UEs configured according to one aspect of the present disclosure.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating example blocks executed to implement one aspect of the present disclosure.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating base stations and UEs configured according to one aspect of the present disclosure.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating an example base station configured according to one aspect of the present disclosure.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram illustrating an example UE configured according to one aspect of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The detailed description set forth below, in connection with the appended drawings, is intended as a description of various configurations and is not intended to limit the scope of the disclosure. Rather, the detailed description includes specific details for the purpose of providing a thorough understanding of the inventive subject matter. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that these specific details are not required in every case and that, in some instances, well-known structures and components are shown in block diagram form for clarity of presentation.

This disclosure relates generally to providing or participating in authorized shared access between two or more wireless communications systems, also referred to as wireless communications networks. In various embodiments, the techniques and apparatus may be used for wireless communication networks such as code division multiple access (CDMA) networks, time division multiple access (TDMA) networks, frequency division multiple access (FDMA) networks, orthogonal FDMA (OFDMA) networks, single-carrier FDMA (SC-FDMA) networks, LTE networks, GSM networks, 5^(th) Generation (5G) or new radio (NR) networks, as well as other communications networks. As described herein, the terms “networks” and “systems” may be used interchangeably.

An OFDMA network may implement a radio technology such as evolved UTRA (E-UTRA), IEEE 802.11, IEEE 802.16, IEEE 802.20, flash-OFDM and the like. UTRA, E-UTRA, and Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) are part of universal mobile telecommunication system (UMTS). In particular, long term evolution (LTE) is a release of UMTS that uses E-UTRA. UTRA, E-UTRA, GSM, UMTS and LTE are described in documents provided from an organization named “3rd Generation Partnership Project” (3GPP), and cdma2000 is described in documents from an organization named “3rd Generation Partnership Project 2” (3GPP2). These various radio technologies and standards are known or are being developed. For example, the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) is a collaboration between groups of telecommunications associations that aims to define a globally applicable third generation (3G) mobile phone specification. 3GPP long term evolution (LTE) is a 3GPP project which was aimed at improving the universal mobile telecommunications system (UMTS) mobile phone standard. The 3GPP may define specifications for the next generation of mobile networks, mobile systems, and mobile devices. The present disclosure is concerned with the evolution of wireless technologies from LTE, 4G, 5G, NR, and beyond with shared access to wireless spectrum between networks using a collection of new and different radio access technologies or radio air interfaces.

In particular, 5G networks contemplate diverse deployments, diverse spectrum, and diverse services and devices that may be implemented using an OFDM-based unified, air interface. In order to achieve these goals, further enhancements to LTE and LTE-A are considered in addition to development of the new radio technology for 5G NR networks. The 5G NR will be capable of scaling to provide coverage (1) to a massive Internet of things (IoTs) with an ultra-high density (e.g., ˜1M nodes/km²), ultra-low complexity (e.g., ˜10s of bits/sec), ultra-low energy (e.g., ˜10+ years of battery life), and deep coverage with the capability to reach challenging locations; (2) including mission-critical control with strong security to safeguard sensitive personal, financial, or classified information, ultra-high reliability (e.g., ˜0.99.9999% reliability), ultra-low latency (e.g., ˜1 ms), and users with wide ranges of mobility or lack thereof; and (3) with enhanced mobile broadband including extreme high capacity (e.g., ˜10 Tbps/km²), extreme data rates (e.g., multi-Gbps rate, 100+ Mbps user experienced rates), and deep awareness with advanced discovery and optimizations.

The 5G NR may be implemented to use optimized OFDM-based waveforms with scalable numerology and transmission time interval (TTI); having a common, flexible framework to efficiently multiplex services and features with a dynamic, low-latency time division duplex (TDD)/frequency division duplex (FDD) design; and with advanced wireless technologies, such as massive multiple input, multiple output (MIMO), robust millimeter wave (mmWave) transmissions, advanced channel coding, and device-centric mobility. Scalability of the numerology in 5G NR, with scaling of subcarrier spacing, may efficiently address operating diverse services across diverse spectrum and diverse deployments. For example, in various outdoor and macro coverage deployments of less than 3GHz FDD/TDD implementations, subcarrier spacing may occur with 15 kHz, for example over 1, 5, 10, 20 MHz, and the like bandwidth. For other various outdoor and small cell coverage deployments of TDD greater than 3 GHz, subcarrier spacing may occur with 30 kHz over 80/100 MHz bandwidth. For other various indoor wideband implementations, using a TDD over the unlicensed portion of the 5 GHz band, the subcarrier spacing may occur with 60 kHz over a 160 MHz bandwidth. Finally, for various deployments transmitting with mmWave components at a TDD of 28 GHz, subcarrier spacing may occur with 120 kHz over a 500 MHz bandwidth.

The scalable numerology of the 5G NR facilitates scalable TTI for diverse latency and quality of service (QoS) requirements. For example, shorter TTI may be used for low latency and high reliability, while longer TTI may be used for higher spectral efficiency. The efficient multiplexing of long and short TTIs to allow transmissions to start on symbol boundaries. 5G NR also contemplates a self-contained integrated subframe design with uplink/downlink scheduling information, data, and acknowledgement in the same subframe. The self-contained integrated subframe supports communications in unlicensed or contention-based shared spectrum, adaptive uplink/downlink that may be flexibly configured on a per-cell basis to dynamically switch between uplink and downlink to meet the current traffic needs.

Various other aspects and features of the disclosure are further described below.

It should be apparent that the teachings herein may be embodied in a wide variety of forms and that any specific structure, function, or both being disclosed herein is merely representative and not limiting. Based on the teachings herein one of an ordinary level of skill in the art should appreciate that an aspect disclosed herein may be implemented independently of any other aspects and that two or more of these aspects may be combined in various ways. For example, an apparatus may be implemented or a method may be practiced using any number of the aspects set forth herein. In addition, such an apparatus may be implemented or such a method may be practiced using other structure, functionality, or structure and functionality in addition to or other than one or more of the aspects set forth herein. For example, a method may be implemented as part of a system, device, apparatus, and/or as instructions stored on a computer readable medium for execution on a processor or computer. Furthermore, an aspect may comprise at least one element of a claim.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating 5G network 100 including various base stations and UEs configured according to aspects of the present disclosure. The 5G network 100 includes a number of base stations 105 and other network entities. A base station may be a station that communicates with the UEs and may also be referred to as an evolved node B (eNB), a next generation eNB (gNB), an access point, and the like. Each base station 105 may provide communication coverage for a particular geographic area. In 3GPP, the term “cell” can refer to this particular geographic coverage area of a base station and/or a base station subsystem serving the coverage area, depending on the context in which the term is used.

A base station may provide communication coverage for a macro cell or a small cell, such as a pico cell or a femto cell, and/or other types of cell. A macro cell generally covers a relatively large geographic area (e.g., several kilometers in radius) and may allow unrestricted access by UEs with service subscriptions with the network provider. A small cell, such as a pico cell, would generally cover a relatively smaller geographic area and may allow unrestricted access by UEs with service subscriptions with the network provider. A small cell, such as a femto cell, would also generally cover a relatively small geographic area (e.g., a home) and, in addition to unrestricted access, may also provide restricted access by UEs having an association with the femto cell (e.g., UEs in a closed subscriber group (CSG), UEs for users in the home, and the like). A base station for a macro cell may be referred to as a macro base station. A base station for a small cell may be referred to as a small cell base station, a pico base station, a femto base station or a home base station. In the example shown in FIG. 1, the base stations 105 d and 105 e are regular macro base stations, while base stations 105 a-105 c are macro base stations enabled with one of 3 dimension (3D), full dimension (FD), or massive MIMO. Base stations 105 a-105 c take advantage of their higher dimension MIMO capabilities to exploit 3D beamforming in both elevation and azimuth beamforming to increase coverage and capacity. Base station 105 f is a small cell base station which may be a home node or portable access point. A base station may support one or multiple (e.g., two, three, four, and the like) cells.

The 5G network 100 may support synchronous or asynchronous operation. For synchronous operation, the base stations may have similar frame timing, and transmissions from different base stations may be approximately aligned in time. For asynchronous operation, the base stations may have different frame timing, and transmissions from different base stations may not be aligned in time.

The UEs 115 are dispersed throughout the wireless network 100, and each UE may be stationary or mobile. A UE may also be referred to as a terminal, a mobile station, a subscriber unit, a station, or the like. A UE may be a cellular phone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a wireless modem, a wireless communication device, a handheld device, a tablet computer, a laptop computer, a cordless phone, a wireless local loop (WLL) station, or the like. In one aspect, a UE may be a device that includes a Universal Integrated Circuit Card (UICC). In another aspect, a UE may be a device that does not include a UICC. In some aspects, UEs that do not include UICCs may also be referred to as internet of everything (IoE) devices. UEs 115 a-115 d are examples of mobile smart phone-type devices accessing 5G network 100 A UE may also be a machine specifically configured for connected communication, including machine type communication (MTC), enhanced MTC (eMTC), narrowband IoT (NB-IoT) and the like. UEs 115 e-115 k are examples of various machines configured for communication that access 5G network 100. A UE may be able to communicate with any type of the base stations, whether macro base station, small cell, or the like. In FIG. 1, a lightning bolt (e.g., communication links) indicates wireless transmissions between a UE and a serving base station, which is a base station designated to serve the UE on the downlink and/or uplink, or desired transmission between base stations, and backhaul transmissions between base stations.

In operation at 5G network 100, base stations 105 a-105 c serve UEs 115 a and 115 b using 3D beamforming and coordinated spatial techniques, such as coordinated multipoint (CoMP) or multi-connectivity. Macro base station 105 d performs backhaul communications with base stations 105 a-105 c, as well as small cell, base station 105 f. Macro base station 105 d also transmits multicast services which are subscribed to and received by UEs 115 c and 115 d. Such multicast services may include mobile television or stream video, or may include other services for providing community information, such as weather emergencies or alerts, such as Amber alerts or gray alerts.

5G network 100 also support mission critical communications with ultra-reliable and redundant links for mission critical devices, such UE 115 e, which is a drone. Redundant communication links with UE 115 e include from macro base stations 105 d and 105 e, as well as small cell base station 105 f. Other machine type devices, such as UE 115 f (thermometer), UE 115 g (smart meter), and UE 115 h (wearable device) may communicate through 5G network 100 either directly with base stations, such as small cell base station 105 f, and macro base station 105 e, or in multi-hop configurations by communicating with another user device which relays its information to the network, such as UE 115 f communicating temperature measurement information to the smart meter, UE 115 g, which is then reported to the network through small cell base station 105 f. 5G network 100 may also provide additional network efficiency through dynamic, low-latency TDD/FDD communications, such as in a vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) mesh network between UEs 115 i-115 k communicating with macro base station 105 e.

FIG. 2 shows a block diagram of a design of a base station 105 and a UE 115, which may be one of the base station and one of the UEs in FIG. 1. At the base station 105, a transmit processor 220 may receive data from a data source 212 and control information from a controller/processor 240. The control information may be for the PBCH, PCFICH, PHICH, PDCCH, EPDCCH, MPDCCH etc. The data may be for the PDSCH, etc. The transmit processor 220 may process (e.g., encode and symbol map) the data and control information to obtain data symbols and control symbols, respectively. The transmit processor 220 may also generate reference symbols, e.g., for the PSS, SSS, and cell-specific reference signal. A transmit (TX) multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) processor 230 may perform spatial processing (e.g., precoding) on the data symbols, the control symbols, and/or the reference symbols, if applicable, and may provide output symbol streams to the modulators (MODs) 232 a through 232 t. Each modulator 232 may process a respective output symbol stream (e.g., for OFDM, etc.) to obtain an output sample stream. Each modulator 232 may further process (e.g., convert to analog, amplify, filter, and upconvert) the output sample stream to obtain a downlink signal. Downlink signals from modulators 232 a through 232 t may be transmitted via the antennas 234 a through 234 t, respectively.

At the UE 115, the antennas 252 a through 252 r may receive the downlink signals from the base station 105 and may provide received signals to the demodulators (DEMODs) 254 a through 254 r, respectively. Each demodulator 254 may condition (e.g., filter, amplify, downconvert, and digitize) a respective received signal to obtain input samples. Each demodulator 254 may further process the input samples (e.g., for OFDM, etc.) to obtain received symbols. A MIMO detector 256 may obtain received symbols from all the demodulators 254 a through 254 r, perform MIMO detection on the received symbols if applicable, and provide detected symbols. A receive processor 258 may process (e.g., demodulate, deinterleave, and decode) the detected symbols, provide decoded data for the UE 115 to a data sink 260, and provide decoded control information to a controller/processor 280.

On the uplink, at the UE 115, a transmit processor 264 may receive and process data (e.g., for the PUSCH) from a data source 262 and control information (e.g., for the PUCCH) from the controller/processor 280. The transmit processor 264 may also generate reference symbols for a reference signal. The symbols from the transmit processor 264 may be precoded by a TX MIMO processor 266 if applicable, further processed by the modulators 254 a through 254 r (e.g., for SC-FDM, etc.), and transmitted to the base station 105. At the base station 105, the uplink signals from the UE 115 may be received by the antennas 234, processed by the demodulators 232, detected by a MIMO detector 236 if applicable, and further processed by a receive processor 238 to obtain decoded data and control information sent by the UE 115. The processor 238 may provide the decoded data to a data sink 239 and the decoded control information to the controller/processor 240.

The controllers/processors 240 and 280 may direct the operation at the base station 105 and the UE 115, respectively. The controller/processor 240 and/or other processors and modules at the base station 105 may perform or direct the execution of various processes for the techniques described herein. The controllers/processor 280 and/or other processors and modules at the UE 115 may also perform or direct the execution of the functional blocks illustrated in FIGS. 4A, 4B, and 6, and/or other processes for the techniques described herein. The memories 242 and 282 may store data and program codes for the base station 105 and the UE 115, respectively. A scheduler 244 may schedule UEs for data transmission on the downlink and/or uplink.

Wireless communications systems operated by different network operating entities (e.g., network operators) may share spectrum. In some instances, a network operating entity may be configured to use an entirety of a designated shared spectrum for at least a period of time before another network operating entity uses the entirety of the designated shared spectrum for a different period of time. Thus, in order to allow network operating entities use of the full designated shared spectrum, and in order to mitigate interfering communications between the different network operating entities, certain resources (e.g., time) may be partitioned and allocated to the different network operating entities for certain types of communication.

For example, a network operating entity may be allocated certain time resources reserved for exclusive communication by the network operating entity using the entirety of the shared spectrum. The network operating entity may also be allocated other time resources where the entity is given priority over other network operating entities to communicate using the shared spectrum. These time resources, prioritized for use by the network operating entity, may be utilized by other network operating entities on an opportunistic basis if the prioritized network operating entity does not utilize the resources. Additional time resources may be allocated for any network operator to use on an opportunistic basis.

Access to the shared spectrum and the arbitration of time resources among different network operating entities may be centrally controlled by a separate entity, autonomously determined by a predefined arbitration scheme, or dynamically determined based on interactions between wireless nodes of the network operators.

In some cases, UE 115 and base station 105 may operate in a shared radio frequency spectrum band, which may include licensed or unlicensed (e.g., contention-based) frequency spectrum. In an unlicensed frequency portion of the shared radio frequency spectrum band, UEs 115 or base stations 105 may traditionally perform a medium-sensing procedure to contend for access to the frequency spectrum. For example, UE 115 or base station 105 may perform a listen before talk (LBT) procedure such as a clear channel assessment (CCA) prior to communicating in order to determine whether the shared channel is available. A CCA may include an energy detection procedure to determine whether there are any other active transmissions. For example, a device may infer that a change in a received signal strength indicator (RSSI) of a power meter indicates that a channel is occupied. Specifically, signal power that is concentrated in a certain bandwidth and exceeds a predetermined noise floor may indicate another wireless transmitter. A CCA also may include detection of specific sequences that indicate use of the channel. For example, another device may transmit a specific preamble prior to transmitting a data sequence. In some cases, an LBT procedure may include a wireless node adjusting its own backoff window based on the amount of energy detected on a channel and/or the acknowledge/negative-acknowledge (ACK/NACK) feedback for its own transmitted packets as a proxy for collisions.

Use of a medium-sensing procedure to contend for access to an unlicensed shared spectrum may result in communication inefficiencies. This may be particularly evident when multiple network operating entities (e.g., network operators) are attempting to access a shared resource. In 5G network 100, base stations 105 and UEs 115 may be operated by the same or different network operating entities. In some examples, an individual base station 105 or UE 115 may be operated by more than one network operating entity. In other examples, each base station 105 and UE 115 may be operated by a single network operating entity. Requiring each base station 105 and UE 115 of different network operating entities to contend for shared resources may result in increased signaling overhead and communication latency.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example of a timing diagram 300 for coordinated resource partitioning. The timing diagram 300 includes a superframe 305, which may represent a fixed duration of time (e.g., 20 ms). Superframe 305 may be repeated for a given communication session and may be used by a wireless system such as 5G network 100 described with reference to FIG. 1. The superframe 305 may be divided into intervals such as an acquisition interval (A-INT) 310 and an arbitration interval 315. As described in more detail below, the A-INT 310 and arbitration interval 315 may be subdivided into sub-intervals, designated for certain resource types, and allocated to different network operating entities to facilitate coordinated communications between the different network operating entities. For example, the arbitration interval 315 may be divided into a plurality of sub-intervals 320. Also, the superframe 305 may be further divided into a plurality of subframes 325 with a fixed duration (e.g., 1 ms). While timing diagram 300 illustrates three different network operating entities (e.g., Operator A, Operator B, Operator C), the number of network operating entities using the superframe 305 for coordinated communications may be greater than or fewer than the number illustrated in timing diagram 300.

The A-INT 310 may be a dedicated interval of the superframe 305 that is reserved for exclusive communications by the network operating entities. In some examples, each network operating entity may be allocated certain resources within the A-INT 310 for exclusive communications. For example, resources 330-a may be reserved for exclusive communications by Operator A, such as through base station 105 a, resources 330-b may be reserved for exclusive communications by Operator B, such as through base station 105 b, and resources 330-c may be reserved for exclusive communications by Operator C, such as through base station 105 c. Since the resources 330-a are reserved for exclusive communications by Operator A, neither Operator B nor Operator C can communicate during resources 330-a, even if Operator A chooses not to communicate during those resources. That is, access to exclusive resources is limited to the designated network operator. Similar restrictions apply to resources 330-b for Operator B and resources 330-c for Operator C. The wireless nodes of Operator A (e.g, UEs 115 or base stations 105) may communicate any information desired during their exclusive resources 330-a, such as control information or data.

When communicating over an exclusive resource, a network operating entity does not need to perform any medium sensing procedures (e.g., listen-before-talk (LBT) or clear channel assessment (CCA)) because the network operating entity knows that the resources are reserved. Because only the designated network operating entity may communicate over exclusive resources, there may be a reduced likelihood of interfering communications as compared to relying on medium sensing techniques alone (e.g., no hidden node problem). In some examples, the A-INT 310 is used to transmit control information, such as synchronization signals (e.g., SYNC signals), system information (e.g., system information blocks (SIBs)), paging information (e.g., physical broadcast channel (PBCH) messages), or random access information (e.g., random access channel (RACH) signals). In some examples, all of the wireless nodes associated with a network operating entity may transmit at the same time during their exclusive resources.

In some examples, resources may be classified as prioritized for certain network operating entities. Resources that are assigned with priority for a certain network operating entity may be referred to as a guaranteed interval (G-INT) for that network operating entity. The interval of resources used by the network operating entity during the G-INT may be referred to as a prioritized sub-interval. For example, resources 335-a may be prioritized for use by Operator A and may therefore be referred to as a G-INT for Operator A (e.g., G-INT-OpA). Similarly, resources 335-b may be prioritized for Operator B, resources 335-c may be prioritized for Operator C, resources 335-d may be prioritized for Operator A, resources 335-e may be prioritized for Operator B, and resources 335-f may be prioritized for operator C.

The various G-INT resources illustrated in FIG. 3 appear to be staggered to illustrate their association with their respective network operating entities, but these resources may all be on the same frequency bandwidth. Thus, if viewed along a time-frequency grid, the G-INT resources may appear as a contiguous line within the superframe 305. This partitioning of data may be an example of time division multiplexing (TDM). Also, when resources appear in the same sub-interval (e.g., resources 340-a and resources 335-b), these resources represent the same time resources with respect to the superframe 305 (e.g., the resources occupy the same sub-interval 320), but the resources are separately designated to illustrate that the same time resources can be classified differently for different operators.

When resources are assigned with priority for a certain network operating entity (e.g., a G-INT), that network operating entity may communicate using those resources without having to wait or perform any medium sensing procedures (e.g., LBT or CCA). For example, the wireless nodes of Operator A are free to communicate any data or control information during resources 335-a without interference from the wireless nodes of Operator B or Operator C.

A network operating entity may additionally signal to another operator that it intends to use a particular G-INT. For example, referring to resources 335-a, Operator A may signal to Operator B and Operator C that it intends to use resources 335-a. Such signaling may be referred to as an activity indication. Moreover, since Operator A has priority over resources 335-a, Operator A may be considered as a higher priority operator than both Operator B and Operator C. However, as discussed above, Operator A does not have to send signaling to the other network operating entities to ensure interference-free transmission during resources 335-a because the resources 335-a are assigned with priority to Operator A.

Similarly, a network operating entity may signal to another network operating entity that it intends not to use a particular G-INT. This signaling may also be referred to as an activity indication. For example, referring to resources 335-b, Operator B may signal to Operator A and Operator C that it intends not to use the resources 335-b for communication, even though the resources are assigned with priority to Operator B. With reference to resources 335-b, Operator B may be considered a higher priority network operating entity than Operator A and Operator C. In such cases, Operators A and C may attempt to use resources of sub-interval 320 on an opportunistic basis. Thus, from the perspective of Operator A, the sub-interval 320 that contains resources 335-b may be considered an opportunistic interval (O-INT) for Operator A (e.g., O-INT-OpA). For illustrative purposes, resources 340-a may represent the O-INT for Operator A. Also, from the perspective of Operator C, the same sub-interval 320 may represent an O-INT for Operator C with corresponding resources 340-b. Resources 340-a, 335-b, and 340-b all represent the same time resources (e.g., a particular sub-interval 320), but are identified separately to signify that the same resources may be considered as a G-INT for some network operating entities and yet as an O-INT for others.

To utilize resources on an opportunistic basis, Operator A and Operator C may perform medium-sensing procedures to check for communications on a particular channel before transmitting data. For example, if Operator B decides not to use resources 335-b (e.g., G-INT-OpB), then Operator A may use those same resources (e.g., represented by resources 340-a) by first checking the channel for interference (e.g., LBT) and then transmitting data if the channel was determined to be clear. Similarly, if Operator C wanted to access resources on an opportunistic basis during sub-interval 320 (e.g., use an O-INT represented by resources 340-b) in response to an indication that Operator B was not going to use its G-INT, Operator C may perform a medium sensing procedure and access the resources if available. In some cases, two operators (e.g., Operator A and Operator C) may attempt to access the same resources, in which case the operators may employ contention-based procedures to avoid interfering communications. The operators may also have sub-priorities assigned to them designed to determine which operator may gain access to resources if more than operator is attempting access simultaneously.

In some examples, a network operating entity may intend not to use a particular G-INT assigned to it, but may not send out an activity indication that conveys the intent not to use the resources. In such cases, for a particular sub-interval 320, lower priority operating entities may be configured to monitor the channel to determine whether a higher priority operating entity is using the resources. If a lower priority operating entity determines through LBT or similar method that a higher priority operating entity is not going to use its G-INT resources, then the lower priority operating entities may attempt to access the resources on an opportunistic basis as described above.

In some examples, access to a G-INT or O-INT may be preceded by a reservation signal (e.g., request-to-send (RTS)/clear-to-send (CTS)), and the contention window (CW) may be randomly chosen between one and the total number of operating entities.

In some examples, an operating entity may employ or be compatible with coordinated multipoint (CoMP) communications. For example an operating entity may employ CoMP and dynamic time division duplex (TDD) in a G-INT and opportunistic CoMP in an O-INT as needed.

In the example illustrated in FIG. 3, each sub-interval 320 includes a G-INT for one of Operator A, B, or C. However, in some cases, one or more sub-intervals 320 may include resources that are neither reserved for exclusive use nor reserved for prioritized use (e.g., unassigned resources). Such unassigned resources may be considered an O-INT for any network operating entity, and may be accessed on an opportunistic basis as described above.

In some examples, each subframe 325 may contain 14 symbols (e.g., 250-μs for 60 kHz tone spacing). These subframes 325 may be standalone, self-contained Interval-Cs (ITCs) or the subframes 325 may be a part of a long ITC. An ITC may be a self-contained transmission starting with a downlink transmission and ending with a uplink transmission. In some embodiments, an ITC may contain one or more subframes 325 operating contiguously upon medium occupation. In some cases, there may be a maximum of eight network operators in an A-INT 310 (e.g., with duration of 2 ms) assuming a 250-μs transmission opportunity.

Although three operators are illustrated in FIG. 3, it should be understood that fewer or more network operating entities may be configured to operate in a coordinated manner as described above. In some cases, the location of the G-INT, O-INT, or A-INT within superframe 305 for each operator is determined autonomously based on the number of network operating entities active in a system. For example, if there is only one network operating entity, each sub-interval 320 may be occupied by a G-INT for that single network operating entity, or the sub-intervals 320 may alternate between G-INTs for that network operating entity and O-INTs to allow other network operating entities to enter. If there are two network operating entities, the sub-intervals 320 may alternate between G-INTs for the first network operating entity and G-INTs for the second network operating entity. If there are three network operating entities, the G-INT and O-INTs for each network operating entity may be designed as illustrated in FIG. 3. If there are four network operating entities, the first four sub-intervals 320 may include consecutive G-INTs for the four network operating entities and the remaining two sub-intervals 320 may contain O-INTs. Similarly, if there are five network operating entities, the first five sub-intervals 320 may contain consecutive G-INTs for the five network operating entities and the remaining sub-interval 320 may contain an O-INT. If there are six network operating entities, all six sub-intervals 320 may include consecutive G-INTs for each network operating entity. It should be understood that these examples are for illustrative purposes only and that other autonomously determined interval allocations may be used.

It should be understood that the coordination framework described with reference to FIG. 3 is for illustration purposes only. For example, the duration of superframe 305 may be more or less than 20 ms. Also, the number, duration, and location of sub-intervals 320 and subframes 325 may differ from the configuration illustrated. Also, the types of resource designations (e.g., exclusive, prioritized, unassigned) may differ or include more or less sub-designations.

In communications over a shared communication medium, both shared between communicating entities operated by the same network operator and entities between different network operators vying for resources on the shared medium, a coordinated window may be defined for providing control signaling and potentially high priority traffic. Such a window may be referred to herein as a Discovery Measurement Configuration (DMTC) window. As noted, essential control signaling and potentially high priority traffic can be transmitted in prioritized manner within the DMTC window.

When used without a clear channel assessment (CCA) exempt transmission (CET) feature, an omni-directional, single CCA may be used to reserve the channel prior to the broadcast transmission or beam scanning. A semi-persistent reservation signaling of the resources, however, may enable CET of synchronization signals and other control signals and channels. With the CET option, a wide coverage channel reservation signal can be sent that silences potential jammers that detect the reservation signal. Thus, to be effective at silencing the potential jammers, a channel reservation signal that can be detected at very low levels may be used to reserve resources on the shared communication channel. The reservation duration and period can be conveyed through the choice of a signal waveform of the channel reservation signal.

FIGS. 4A and 4B are block diagrams illustrating example blocks executed to implement aspects of the present disclosure. The example blocks of FIG. 4A will also be described with respect to UE 115 as illustrated in FIG. 9. FIG. 9 is a block diagram illustrating UE 115 configured according to one aspect of the present disclosure. UE 115 includes the structure, hardware, and components as illustrated for UE 115 of FIG. 2. For example, UE 115 includes controller/processor 280, which operates to execute logic or computer instructions stored in memory 282, as well as controlling the components of UE 115 that provide the features and functionality of UE 115. UE 115, under control of controller/processor 280, transmits and receives signals via wireless radios 900 a-r and antennas 252 a-r. Wireless radios 900 a-r includes various components and hardware, as illustrated in FIG. 2 for eNB 105, including modulator/demodulators 254 a-r, MIMO detector 256, receive processor 258, transmit processor 264, and TX MIMO processor 266.

At block 400, a UE receives a semi-persistent reservation signal from a serving base station during a DMTC window. For example, UE 115 receives signals via antennas 252 a-r and wireless radios 900 a-r. The signals are decoded within wireless radios 900 a-r and determined to be the semi-persistent channel reservation signals. The execution, under control of controller/processor 280, of channel reservation process 901 creates an execution environment in which the signals with the sequence matching the decoded semi-persistent reservation signals are recognized as such. Moreover, UE 115 would read an indication of the duration and period of the transmission reservation on the shared communications channel included with the reservation signal.

At block 401, the UE re-transmits the semi-persistent reservation signal in response to the receiving, wherein the re-transmitting the semi-persistent reservation signal includes adding an offset period to the re-transmitted semi-persistent reservation signal. In order to increase the reach of the reservation, some or all of the served UEs can also re-transmit the semi-persistent reservation signal received from the base station. Thus, the execution environment of channel reservation process 901 would prompt UE 115, under signaling or triggering of the base station, to re-transmit the semi-persistent reservation signal via wireless radios 900 a-r and antennas 252 a-r. The base stations within range of these UEs, including UE 115, may not necessarily be within range of the transmitting base station. However, as they are within range of the UE 115 and the other UEs re-transmitting the reservation signal, they would be potential interferers to the UEs 115. Thus, by re-transmitting the semi-persistent reservation signal, the protection of the channel reservation signal may be extended beyond the range of the transmitting base station. Moreover, because the original transmission of the reservation signal would be well prior to the re-transmission, UE 115 would add an offset to the indications of the signal that allows the receiving neighboring base stations the information to determine the specific duration and period of the transmission reservation. UE 115, under control of controller/processor 280, executes offset measurement logic 902. The execution environment of offset measurement logic 902 allows UE 115 to determine the timing offset between the received semi-persistent reservation signal and the re-transmission of the signal. This offset may then be added to the re-transmitted signal in order to provide the receiving base station with the information to determine the location, duration, and period of the reserved transmission time.

At block 402, the UE engages in communication with the serving base station within a CET period identified by the semi-persistent reservation signal after the DMTC window. Once the semi-persistent reservation signal has been sent by the serving base station and re-transmitted by UE 115, communications between the UEs and the serving base station may be protected for the CET duration. Thus, for data 903, stored in memory 282, to be transmitted, UE 115 may transmit such data 903 via wireless radios 900 a-r and antennas 252 a-r.

The example blocks of FIG. 4B will also be described with respect to base station 105 as illustrated in FIG. 8. FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating base station 105 configured according to one aspect of the present disclosure. Base station 105 includes the structure, hardware, and components as illustrated for base station 105 of FIG. 2. For example, base station 105 includes controller/processor 240, which operates to execute logic or computer instructions stored in memory 242, as well as controlling the components of base station 105 that provide the features and functionality of base station 105. Base station 105, under control of controller/processor 240, transmits and receives signals via wireless radios 800 a-t and antennas 234 a-t. Wireless radios 800 a-t includes various components and hardware, as illustrated in FIG. 2 for base station 105, including modulator/demodulators 232 a-t, MIMO detector 236, receive processor 238, transmit processor 220, and TX MIMO processor 230.

On the neighboring base station side, at block 403, the neighboring base station may be in communication with one or more of its served UEs using the shared communication channel. For purposes of the described example, base station 105 is a neighboring base station within range of UE 115, as described in FIG. 4A, but not within range of the base station originally transmitting the semi-persistent reservation signal. Base station 105 may be conducting communications with any number of its serving UEs (not shown) via antennas 234 a-t and wireless radios 800 a-t.

At block 404, the neighboring base station detects the semi-persistent channel reservation signal on the shared communication channel during a gap in communication. Base station 115 receives signals via antennas 234 a-t and wireless radios 800 a-t. The signals are decoded within wireless radios 800 a-t and determined to be the semi-persistent channel reservation signals. The execution, under control of controller/processor 240, of contention process 804 creates an execution environment in which the signals with the sequence matching the decoded semi-persistent reservation signals are recognized as such. Moreover, base station 105 would read the indication of the duration and period of the transmission reservation on the shared communications channel included with the reservation signal. The execution environment of contention process 804 would also allow base station 105 to read any offsets added by a transmitting UE. When there is a gap in communication between neighboring base station 105 and its served UEs, neighboring base station 105 will monitor for such reservation signals. Neighboring base station 105 may detect the semi-persistent reservation signal either directly from the transmitting base station or indirectly through the re-transmission by the neighboring UEs.

At block 405, the neighboring base station will refrain from resuming communication with its served UEs using the shared communication channel for a predetermined time after the detecting. As neighboring base station 105 detects the semi-persistent reservation signal, it may read the indicated duration and period either directly from the direct reception from the transmitting base station or indirectly, with the indicated offset, from the re-transmitted reservation signal from the neighboring UEs. With this information, within the execution environment of contention process 804, neighboring base station 105 may refrain from resuming communications over the shared communication channel for the CET duration identified from the reservation signal.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating base stations 105 a-105 c, 105 g and UEs 115 a-115 c configured according to one aspect of the present disclosure. For purposes of the example illustrated in FIG. 5, base station 105 a serves UEs 115 a-115 c. Base stations 105 a-105 c, 105 g each have respective coverage areas, coverage areas 500-503, within which signals transmitted by base stations 105 a-105 c, 105 g may be detected consistently. In operations according to the described aspect, base station 105 a, with a CET option for access, transmits a semi-persistent reservation signal to secure a CET period of communications between itself and any of UEs 115 a-115 c. Base station 105 b, which is operated by a different network operator than base station 105 a, is within the coverage area of base station 105 a, and, therefore, is able to receive and detect the semi-persistent reservation signal, while base stations 105 c and 105 g, are outside of the signal range, and, thus, cannot hear or detect such signal. UEs 115 a-115 c, after receiving the semi-persistent reservation signal, re-transmit the reservation signal. The re-transmitted reservation signal are detected by base stations 105 b, 105 c, and 105 g. Therefore, each of base stations 105 b, 105 c, and 105 g, which are likely interferers to communications with UEs 115 a-115 c, each may detect the semi-persistent reservation signal originally transmitted from base station 105 a.

When the semi-persistent reservation is re-transmitted from the served UEs, UEs 115 a-115 c, the choice of waveform may also convey an offset in addition to the duration and the period in order to inform the neighboring base stations, base stations 105 b, 105 c, and 105 g, of the timing difference between the originally-transmitted semi-persistent reservation signal and the re-transmitted version. The type of waveform selected for conveying such information may include a signature waveform, where certain sequences or convolution codes are used to indicate such duration and period information. The UE re-transmission of the semi-persistent reservation signal may be triggered by base station 150 a via a unicast signal or broadcast signal. Moreover, any number of UEs 115 a-115 c may re-transmit the semi-persistent reservation signal, whether all of them or a lesser subset. However, a threshold maximum number of such transmitting UEs may be provided in order to minimize the number of hypothesis for blind detection by the neighboring base stations. Additionally, the transmitting UEs 115 a-115 c may be signaled to transmit continuously for a predetermined period, or non-periodically over a predetermined period.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating example blocks executed to implement one aspect of the present disclosure. The example blocks will also be described with respect to base station 105 as illustrated in FIG. 8. At block 600, a base station reserves a transmission period on a shared communication channel within a DMTC window. For purposes of the described example, base station 105 represents the base station to which the UE will transmit RACH. Base station 105, under control of controller/processor 240, will execute channel reservation process 801 stored in memory 242. Within the execution environment of channel reservation process 801, medium access may be provided either using a CET option, using the semi-persistent reservation signal disclosed above, or using a non-CET option, in which base station 105 attempts to reserve the channel by performing a single, omni-directional CCA before the control signals and channel transmissions begin. In either case, the semi-persistent reservation signal or CCA would be performed via wireless radios 800 a-t and antennas 234 a-t.

At block 601, the base station transmits control signals during the DMTC window after the reserving. On successfully reserving the shared communication channel, such as through the semi-persistent reservation signal (CET) or successful omni-directional CCA (non-CET), base station 105 will transmit the synchronization signal block advertising its availability to surrounding UEs. Base station 105 may, under controller/processor 240, execute control signal generator 802. The execution environment of control signal generator 802 provides for base station 105 to generate the synchronization block signals for transmission during the DMTC window via wireless radios 800 a-t and antennas 234 a-t.

At block 602, the base station communicates with one or more served UEs after the DMTC window. Thus, any data 803, stored in memory 242, that is to be transmitted to the served UEs may be transmitted using wireless radios 800 a-t and antennas 234 a-t. Information received from a served UE via antennas 234 a-t and wireless radios 800 a-t may also be stored at data 803 for transmission to another network node. Access to the shared communication channel may be different depending on whether access is attempted within the DMTC window or outside the DMTC window. Within the DMTC window, access may be prioritized. Depending on the transmission band, access within the DMTC window may rely on the channel reservation mechanisms of the non-CET or CET options. In the non-CET option, the single, omni-directional CCA check may be performed before the control signals and channel transmission begins. With the CET option, the semi-persistent channel reservation signal is transmitted which indicates to potential interferers that they should refrain from transmitting during the identified duration and period.

It should be noted that, when operating under the CET option, an LBT procedure may be performed at the power up of base station 105 with use of the semi-persistent channel reservation signal afterwards. The execution environment of channel reservation process 801 may include the functionality for LBT procedures. Base station 105 would then use another LBT only when the periodic transmission of the reservation signal is stopped for any reason.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating base stations 105 a-105 c and UEs 115 a-115 c configured according to one aspect of the present disclosure. Base stations 105 a and 105 b and their respectively served UEs 115 a-115 b operate on a network managed by the same network operator (Op 1). Communications between base station 105 a and UE 115 a are illustrated by communication stream 700 to Op 1 a, while communications between base station 105 b and UE 115 b are illustrated by communication stream 701 to Op 1 b. Base station 105 c and its served UE 115 c operate on a network managed by a different network operator (Op 1). Communications between base station 105 c and UE 115 c are illustrated by communication stream 702 to Op 2.

With the communications of base stations of the same network entity, such as base station 105 a and 105 b, the DMTC window belonging to such base stations may “substantially” overlap. Thus, the DMTC window of Op 1 a substantially overlaps with the DMTC window of Op 1 b.

If the CET option is enabled, each base station may protect transmissions from another base station within the other base station's DMTC window. For example, during DMTC windows Op 1 a and Op 1 b, base station 105 c (Op 2) refrains from transmissions. Similarly, during DMTC windows Op 2, base stations 105 a and 105 b refrain from transmitting in order to protect base station 105 c's DMTC window. Outside of the DMTC window, the transmitter may access the shared communication medium in the same manner used for accessing the medium for data transmissions. Thus, access during the contention areas illustrated between the DMTC widows of base stations 105 a-105 c are contended between each base station. In some aspects, certain operators may have priority access over others, as well as certain base stations within the same operator may have priority access rights.

Those of skill in the art would understand that information and signals may be represented using any of a variety of different technologies and techniques. For example, data, instructions, commands, information, signals, bits, symbols, and chips that may be referenced throughout the above description may be represented by voltages, currents, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or particles, optical fields or particles, or any combination thereof.

The functional blocks and modules in FIGS. 4A, 4B, and 6 may comprise processors, electronics devices, hardware devices, electronics components, logical circuits, memories, software codes, firmware codes, etc., or any combination thereof.

Those of skill would further appreciate that the various illustrative logical blocks, modules, circuits, and algorithm steps described in connection with the disclosure herein may be implemented as electronic hardware, computer software, or combinations of both. To clearly illustrate this interchangeability of hardware and software, various illustrative components, blocks, modules, circuits, and steps have been described above generally in terms of their functionality. Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware or software depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the overall system. Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality in varying ways for each particular application, but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the present disclosure. Skilled artisans will also readily recognize that the order or combination of components, methods, or interactions that are described herein are merely examples and that the components, methods, or interactions of the various aspects of the present disclosure may be combined or performed in ways other than those illustrated and described herein.

The various illustrative logical blocks, modules, and circuits described in connection with the disclosure herein may be implemented or performed with a general-purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof designed to perform the functions described herein. A general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but in the alternative, the processor may be any conventional processor, controller, microcontroller, or state machine. A processor may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices, e.g., a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, a plurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a DSP core, or any other such configuration.

The steps of a method or algorithm described in connection with the disclosure herein may be embodied directly in hardware, in a software module executed by a processor, or in a combination of the two. A software module may reside in RAM memory, flash memory, ROM memory, EPROM memory, EEPROM memory, registers, hard disk, a removable disk, a CD-ROM, or any other form of storage medium known in the art. An exemplary storage medium is coupled to the processor such that the processor can read information from, and write information to, the storage medium. In the alternative, the storage medium may be integral to the processor. The processor and the storage medium may reside in an ASIC. The ASIC may reside in a user terminal. In the alternative, the processor and the storage medium may reside as discrete components in a user terminal.

In one or more exemplary designs, the functions described may be implemented in hardware, software, firmware, or any combination thereof. If implemented in software, the functions may be stored on or transmitted over as one or more instructions or code on a computer-readable medium. Computer-readable media includes both computer storage media and communication media including any medium that facilitates transfer of a computer program from one place to another. Computer-readable storage media may be any available media that can be accessed by a general purpose or special purpose computer. By way of example, and not limitation, such computer-readable media can comprise RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium that can be used to carry or store desired program code means in the form of instructions or data structures and that can be accessed by a general-purpose or special-purpose computer, or a general-purpose or special-purpose processor. Also, a connection may be properly termed a computer-readable medium. For example, if the software is transmitted from a website, server, or other remote source using a coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, or digital subscriber line (DSL), then the coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, or DSL, are included in the definition of medium. Disk and disc, as used herein, includes compact disc (CD), laser disc, optical disc, digital versatile disc (DVD), floppy disk and blu-ray disc where disks usually reproduce data magnetically, while discs reproduce data optically with lasers. Combinations of the above should also be included within the scope of computer-readable media.

As used herein, including in the claims, the term “and/or,” when used in a list of two or more items, means that any one of the listed items can be employed by itself, or any combination of two or more of the listed items can be employed. For example, if a composition is described as containing components A, B, and/or C, the composition can contain A alone; B alone; C alone; A and B in combination; A and C in combination; B and C in combination; or A, B, and C in combination. Also, as used herein, including in the claims, “or” as used in a list of items prefaced by “at least one of” indicates a disjunctive list such that, for example, a list of “at least one of A, B, or C” means A or B or C or AB or AC or BC or ABC (i.e., A and B and C) or any of these in any combination thereof.

The previous description of the disclosure is provided to enable any person skilled in the art to make or use the disclosure. Various modifications to the disclosure will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the generic principles defined herein may be applied to other variations without departing from the spirit or scope of the disclosure. Thus, the disclosure is not intended to be limited to the examples and designs described herein but is to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the principles and novel features disclosed herein. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of wireless communication, comprising: reserving, by a base station, a transmission period on a shared communication channel within a discovery measurement timing configuration (DMTC) window; transmitting, by the base station, control signals during the DMTC window after the reserving; and communicating, by the base station, with one or more served user equipments (UEs) after the DMTC window.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the reserving includes one of: detecting, by the base station, a successful completion of an omni-directional clear channel assessment (CCA) check; or transmitting a semi-persistent channel reservation signal at a beginning of the DMTC window, wherein the semi-persistent reservation signal identifies reservation of a shared communication channel.
 3. The method of claim 2, wherein the reserving includes the transmitting the semi-persistent channel reservation signal, the method further including: performing, by the base station, an initial listen before talk (LBT) procedure upon power up of the base station.
 4. The method of claim 3, further including: detecting, by the base station, a gap in transmission of the semi-persistent channel reservation signal, wherein the gap is larger than a predetermined threshold; and performing, by the base station, an LBT procedure to resume transmissions after the gap.
 5. The method of claim 2, wherein the semi-persistent reservation signal identifies a reservation duration and period of the transmission period.
 6. The method of claim 5, wherein the reservation duration and period of the transmission period are identified by a signature waveform of the semi-persistent reservation signal.
 7. The method of claim 2, wherein the reserving includes the transmitting the semi-persistent channel reservation signal, the method further including: detecting, by the base station, a neighboring DMTC window associated with a neighboring base station; and refraining from transmitting, by the base station, during the neighboring DMTC.
 8. A method of wireless communications, comprising: communicating, by a base station, with one or more served user equipments (UEs) using a shared communication channel; detecting, by the base station, a semi-persistent channel reservation signal on the shared communication channel during a gap in the communicating; and refraining from resuming the communicating using the shared communication channel for a predetermined time after the detecting.
 9. The method of claim 8, wherein the semi-persistent channel reservation signal is detected from one of: a neighboring base station, or a neighboring UE.
 10. The method of claim 9, wherein one or more of: the neighboring UE, and the neighboring base station operates with a different network operator from the base station.
 11. An apparatus configured for wireless communication, the apparatus comprising: at least one processor; and a memory coupled to the at least one processor, wherein the at least one processor is configured to: reserve, by a base station, a transmission period on a shared communication channel within a discovery measurement timing configuration (DMTC) window; transmit, by the base station, control signals during the DMTC window after the reserving; and communicate, by the base station, with one or more served user equipments (UEs) after the DMTC window.
 12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the configuration of the at least one processor to reserve includes configuration of the at least one processor to one of: detect, by the base station, a successful completion of an omni-directional clear channel assessment (CCA) check; or transmit a semi-persistent channel reservation signal at a beginning of the DMTC window, wherein the semi-persistent reservation signal identifies reservation of a shared communication channel.
 13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the configuration of the at least one processor to reserve includes configuration of the at least one processor to transmit the semi-persistent channel reservation signal, the at least one processor further configured to: perform, by the base station, an initial listen before talk (LBT) procedure upon power up of the base station.
 14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: detect, by the base station, a gap in transmission of the semi-persistent channel reservation signal, wherein the gap is larger than a predetermined threshold; and perform, by the base station, an LBT procedure to resume transmissions after the gap.
 15. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the semi-persistent reservation signal identifies a reservation duration and period of the transmission period.
 16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the reservation duration and period of the transmission period are identified by a signature waveform of the semi-persistent reservation signal.
 17. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the configuration of the at least one processor to reserve includes configuration of the at least one processor to transmit the semi-persistent channel reservation signal, the method further including: detecting, by the base station, a neighboring DMTC window associated with a neighboring base station; and refraining from transmitting, by the base station, during the neighboring DMTC.
 18. An apparatus configured for wireless communication, the apparatus comprising: at least one processor; and a memory coupled to the at least one processor, wherein the at least one processor is configured to: communicate, by a base station, with one or more served user equipments (UEs) using a shared communication channel; detect, by the base station, a semi-persistent channel reservation signal on the shared communication channel during a gap in the communicating; and refrain from resuming the communicating using the shared communication channel for a predetermined time after the detecting.
 19. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the semi-persistent channel reservation signal is detected from one of: a neighboring base station, or a neighboring UE.
 20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein one or more of: the neighboring UE, and the neighboring base station operates with a different network operator from the base station. 